Gimmie Life – Nettle & Berry Smoothie
When Life gets stingy I turn to Nettles
(Or smart strategies when you´ve kind of hit rock bottom)
We were so so far off for a few days this past week, Fabian and me. When floating in a neverland where the flue holds you tight it´s tough to see more than the importance of a bed a bathroom and love. Food? Oh no, not important at all. At these times it´s funny how we in the midst of our misery still felt how being together did boost the healing process. Or at least helped sanity to stick around.. But how to get life back into this freaking amazing body that handled those crazy days!?
…So I turned to nettles. This glorious little superhero that somehow has taken over the entire space behind our house. They are abundant, they are stingy and.. they are real lifesavers!
I decided to take a leap of faith and introduce this smoothie to my empty tummy (that did not want anymore sourdough bread and probiotics) and I just knew it would bring my body back to life. Oh how right I was! Sleep + this smoothie just might be the best pick me up I have ever tried after a terror flu! Wohoo! I love miracle cures (especially when they are greenish to the color and very free of charge;)
Fun & Fabulous Facts
Growing up on the Swedish countryside I have always had nettles around and when the first shoots came at Easter-time we made nettle soup. Nettle soup with eggs from our hen house made an amazingly beautiful meal with the bright contrast of a really yellow yolk and the almost too green color of the soup. Then when I realized the amazing nutritional value and medicinal properties of the nettle I got even more hooked! This little (although it can grow to a crazy height) is one of the most powerful detoxifiers known to human. By being a diuretic it works it´s wonders eliminating a load of toxins through the urinary tract. This is why it is commonly used with people who have kidney related diseases/problems to strengthen the kidneys .
One of the most amazing things, I think is that the stinging Nettle Urtica dioica help rid the connective tissue of toxins. This is worth mentioning big time since there are very few things that can make this happen. The connective tissue loads up on toxins from our food, drinks, overall habits and environmental toxins since it is the most stable place for the body to store these. As the years go by and we do not care to detoxify the connective tissue then problems can arise. Including foods that are mildly detoxifying in your daily diet is a smart one, honey!
As with all miraculous foods I can go on and on talking about the nettle (I mean I did not put it in my Nordic Superfood mix for nothing)… but I won´t. I´ll just mention this: for you that are having problems with pollen allergies at this time of year, nettle can help! Wooho! So put on some gloves and go foraging!
Those of you who know me also knows that I tend to get a tad crazy when it comes to green elixirs, smoothies, drinks and juices. There usually is very little fruit and never dried fruits when these drinkable goodies comes to life. I mean, I cannot be called the Green Goddess for nothing right?
At some times though.. striving for a uber balanced blood sugar get´s kicked real far away. Like today when all I can bare to eat needs to be on the sweet, easy digestible side of the scale. Haha, it sounds like I´m about to introduce a smoothie filled with 2 cups of agave here. Do not worry, that´s not the case. Banana, berries, vanilla and stevia did the trick this time.
Oh and it does not sting, honey! Just blend the smoothie thoroughly and the problem is solved!
Gimmie Life Nettle & Berry Smoothie
I kept this recipe extremely basic for it to be as easy as possible on my stomach. If you want to go all green wild vixen and add all kinds of veggies, other fruits, superfoods and fun stuff, go ahead and do it! I´ll give it a few more days then add some raw cacao!
2 large smoothies
3 cup Nettle, roughly chopped
1 large banana
1 cup oat milk/almond milk/other veggie milk
1.2 cup mixed frozen berries
0.5 tsp pure vanilla
10 drops stevia concentrate
1 organic lemon, zest & juice
1. Rinse and roughly chop the nettles and add it to the blender along with all other ingredients.
2. Blend thoroughly (about 1-2 minutes depending on your blender) this makes the stings disappear and it breaks down the cellular walls of the nettles which makes the nutrition more available for your body to absorb.
3. Add some frozen berries and say cheers!
Voilá, a few smoothies, plenty of rest and a trip to a local farm/shop later I´m feeling confident that life actually HAS returned. Like for real. Amazed yet again by the fabulous power of love (feeling the Lion King soundtrack?) and that sometimes the bathroom floor is a real nice place to sleep (ahem..)
Now come on over to Facebook and Twitter and tell me, do you dare making this smoothie or are you still afraid of the stings?
Crazy bliss and a flowery apple tree
°°Elenore°°
18 Comments
Ali Seiter
3 maj, 2012Believe it or not, I often blend nettles into my smoothies! At first, I was a tad hesitant that ingesting raw nettles would upset my stomach due to their stingers, but you’ve certainly quieted my worries after proving that they do quite the opposite. I plan to pick up a big ol’ bunch of nettles at my farmers market this weekend–can’t wait!
ElenoreEarth
3 maj, 2012I so glad to hear that, Ali! Tell me how the smoothie will turn out!
Bliss & Greens
Elenore
nadia
3 maj, 2012i am glad you are feeling better. i will try nettle in a smoothie, i have it in tea form but never like this. i loved
the pics of this post.
ElenoreEarth
3 maj, 2012Hi Nadia! I´m so glad too, THANKS<3
Hope you´ll like the smoothie but I do think you will! Also, I´m so glad to hear that you loved the photos! As I mentioned in the last post I´m planning to incorporate more of ”real life” pics in the posts.. To give it all another dimension:)
Jacqui
3 maj, 2012Would this work with dried nettles as well?
ElenoreEarth
4 maj, 2012Absolutely! Maybe you´ll need to add a bit more liquid…:)
Luise
7 maj, 2012Nettle power YEAH! Glad you two are feeling better:) thanks for the recipe!
What I Ate Wednesday #28 « Farmers Market Vegan
11 maj, 2012[...] A refreshing smoothie à la Elenore over at Earthsprout (a gorgeous blog—I’d highly recommend paying a visit if you haven’t yet) of 1 frozen [...]
Chris
11 maj, 2012Hey there, friend!
I reckon you missed my last question, so I’ll continue pestering you here instead ;) When making your beautiful chocolate cake, you use pistachios. I simply cannot get hold of organic pistachios in my neck of the woods. Do you know of any online source? It would be greatly appreciated!
Love,
Chris
ElenoreEarth
13 maj, 2012Hey Chris! Oh, sorry, yes I must have missed it! I bought my organic pistachios when I lived in Spain and brought them to sweden.. I know it is hard to find here and I do not have any good tips on where to find them. To follow the green line, you could use pumpkin seeds instead!
Best of luck to you and let´s give each other a hollar if we stumple upon a good organic pistachio source somewhere!
Susanna
15 maj, 2012I just wanted to thank you for the inspiration for my breakfastsmoothie – nettles, blueberrys, a banana and some apple juice. Delicious!
ElenoreEarth
15 maj, 2012Hej Susanna! Vilken fantatsik hemsida du har! Kraften från hästarna strålar!
Så glad att du hittade lite ny smoothieinspiration här på Earthsprout, välkommen tillbaka!
/E
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16 maj, 2012[...] you haven’t already got it. I kinda love them weeds. I am a green goddess proudly frolicking among all those wild yummy things. Right, I get [...]
Caroline
18 maj, 2012Greetings Elenore!
I recently discovered your blog and have to say that it helped make my life this week beautifully healthy and delicious. I’ve made this smoothie three times now and absolutely love it, and over the last couple of days I’ve also tried your cardamom+carrot cupcake recipe and saffron ”rawsotto” recipes – incredible!
You write with so much joy and inspiration, and it’s contagious. I can’t wait to read more :)
ElenoreEarth
19 maj, 2012Caroline! Wow – I´m totally blissing out here!
There are no words for the love that this space can create! Such a beautiful healing, sassy, crazy, powerful place to meet and get inspiration!
I cannot wait to hear more from you!
Hugs!
/E
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23 maj, 2012[...] cleansing vegetable and since it is a diuretic it flushes out the toxins through the urinary tract (as the nettles in this smoothie does). It is effective against many bacterial and fungal infections. Therefore indirectly supporting [...]
Maria
5 juni, 2012Hi,
I have been juicing for while now and recently went on a juicing retreat which taught me a lot about nutrition and has made me want to know so much more! Have found your site and loving your ethos, enthusiasm and energy! Tell me, and I hope not a daft question, can you use any nettles – the nettles growing at the top of my garden for example? Also, instead of blending the nettles can I juice them and then add to the smoothie? Thank you.
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3 juni, 2013[...] wild during my childhood (and now adulthood) in Sweden. In this recipe two of my faves meet up: the nettle and the hazelnut, but for today’s Fun & Fabulous section let’s focus on the [...]